Key insights

• Scaling Design Teams

  • 📊 Balancing autonomy with consistency in interfaces and ownership between teams
  • 📊 Creation of teams based on new opportunities and staffed accordingly
  • 📊 OKRs are used for annual and monthly goals to align with high-level direction and strategy
  • 📊 The company uses various tools including an internal blog called async, Slack, email, and a wiki for long-form documentation

• Remote Work Strategies

  • 💻 Remote communication requires intentional bandwidth management
  • 💻 Remote work encourages default action, respecting others' time, and asynchronous collaboration
  • 💻 Building rapport and shared ownership between product managers and product designers for effective remote work
  • 💻 Utilizing OKRs as an alignment mechanism and focusing on customer impact in scaling teams
  • 💻 Use of internal tools such as async, Slack, email, and a wiki for documentation

• Early Days and Growth of Zapier

  • 🚀 The early days of Zapier involved building a user base through support, sales, and SEO
  • 🚀 Zapier's early growth was due to customer support, where feature requests and user recommendations played a significant role
  • 🚀 The first hire for Zapier was a remote support person, and the company eventually became fully remote
  • 🚀 The founders initially worked on Zapier as a side project and committed to it full-time after Y Combinator
  • 🚀 Started as a remote, distributed workforce out of necessity and later embraced it as a better way to run the company

• Zapier and Task Automation

  • 👨‍💼 Introduction to Zapier and its role in task automation at work
  • 👨‍💼 The evolution of market needs with website builders, form building, and automation tools
  • 👨‍💼 The challenge of estimating the total addressable market for their product
  • 👨‍💼 Challenges and strategies of jump-starting a platform for developers and partners
  • 👨‍💼 The value proposition for partners in integrating with Zapier

• Remote Work and Company Culture

  • 🌐 Discussion on remote work and no office company culture
  • 🌐 Started as a remote, distributed workforce out of necessity and later embraced it as a better way to run the company
  • 🌐 Running a remote company requires explicit processes for decision making, communication, and work sharing
  • 🌐 Effective communication in a remote work environment, value of in-person relationships, incorporating unstructured time at company retreats
  • 🌐 The speaker discusses the importance of breaking traditional norms in remote work to encourage collaboration and highlights the value of structured processes and a cultural shift

Q&A

• How does Zapier prove the possibility of large fully remote organizations?

  Zapier emphasizes the advantage of starting a remote company from the ground up and references the importance of a book on running a remote company. The company focuses on proving the possibility of large fully remote organizations through adaptation and scaling of asynchronous communication.

• What is emphasized about running a remote company in the conversation?

  The conversation emphasizes the importance of breaking traditional norms in remote work, encouraging collaboration, and highlighting the value of structured processes and a cultural shift. Intentional communication and setting up the right cultural values for remote work are also emphasized.

• What cultural values are important for remote work according to Zapier?

  Setting up cultural values around autonomy and written communication is crucial for remote organizations according to Zapier. The company emphasizes the need for adapting and scaling asynchronous communication in remote work environments.

• How does Zapier promote effective collaboration and communication in a remote work environment?

  Zapier emphasizes the importance of structured processes, such as pair buddy calls, for communication and idea sharing. The company also recognizes the value of in-person relationships in a remote work environment and incorporates unstructured time at company retreats for cross-team coordination. They also utilize explicit design exercises for remote collaboration.

• What tools does Zapier use for internal communication and documentation?

  Zapier uses internal tools such as async, Slack, email, and a wiki for documentation. The company invests in customizing these tools to match its specific needs, which helps with communication, decision-making, and organizational efficiency.

• How does Zapier build and scale its product teams?

  Zapier emphasizes building rapport and shared ownership between product managers and product designers. Utilizing OKRs as an alignment mechanism and prioritizing customer impact are crucial in scaling teams. The company also places a strong focus on autonomy and consistency in interfaces and ownership between teams.

• What are the challenges and strategies of running a remote company?

  Running a remote company requires explicit processes for decision-making, communication, and work sharing. Remote work encourages default action, respecting others' time, and asynchronous collaboration. Effective communication in a remote work environment and intentional bandwidth management are crucial. Hiring for default action and asynchronous work is important for success in remote companies.

• Why did Zapier choose to remain a fully remote company?

  Zapier originally started as a remote, distributed workforce out of necessity, and later embraced it as a better way to run the company. This decision was influenced by factors such as profits, autonomy, and the focus on hiring individuals with past remote experience and the ability to take independent action.

• How did Zapier grow in its early days?

  Zapier initially grew through customer support, sales, and SEO efforts. The founders first built a prototype at a startup weekend, applied to Y Combinator twice, and eventually became a fully remote company. Their early growth was driven by customer support, feature requests, and user recommendations.

• What is Zapier and how does it automate work tasks?

  Zapier is a tool that automates work tasks by connecting various apps and services to enable seamless data transfer and task automation. It allows users to create automated workflows, known as 'Zaps', without any coding or development skills.

• 00:00 The conversation features a co-founder of Zapier and a partner at Y Combinator discussing remote work, building a startup, and scaling design teams. They touch upon the concept of automating work tasks with Zapier, their early days, growth strategy, and the value proposition for partners. 👨‍💼🌐
• 07:34 The early days of Zapier involved building a user base through support, sales, and SEO. They started with a prototype at a startup weekend, applied to Y Combinator twice, and became a fully remote company with the first hire being a remote support person.
• 15:22 The company started as a remote, distributed workforce out of necessity and later embraced it as a better way to run the company. Profits and autonomy were key factors in the decision. Hiring for remote work focuses on autonomy, past remote experience, and the ability to take action.
• 23:21 Running a remote company requires explicit processes for decision making, communication, and work sharing. Remote work benefits recruiting and allows for deep work. Remote teams need explicit direction for deep work and collaboration. Remote communication requires intentional bandwidth management. Remote work encourages default action, respecting others' time, and asynchronous collaboration. Zapier fosters hiring for default action and asynchronous work.
• 31:21 Building rapport and strong shared ownership between product managers and product designers is crucial for remote work. Utilizing OKRs as an alignment mechanism and prioritizing customer impact helps in scaling teams. Teams have autonomy to experiment with processes while ensuring consistency in interfaces and ownership between teams. Teams are created based on new opportunities and staffed accordingly. OKRs are used for annual and monthly goals, enabling alignment with high-level direction and strategy. OKRs aid in prioritization and trade-offs, while documented processes facilitate discussions and remove conflict.
• 39:00 The company uses various tools including an internal blog called async, Slack, email, and a wiki for long-form documentation. They invest in internal tools and customizing them to match the company's needs. Internal tools help with communication, decision-making, and organization efficiency. The company also organizes regular retreats to boost employee morale.
• 46:47 Effective communication in a remote work environment, value of in-person relationships, incorporating unstructured time at company retreats, using explicit exercises for remote design collaboration
• 54:53 The speaker discusses the importance of breaking traditional norms in remote work to encourage collaboration and highlights the value of structured processes and a cultural shift. The conversation emphasizes the significance of intentional communication and setting up the right cultural values for remote work. The speaker also mentions the advantage of starting a remote company from the ground up and references the book on running a remote company.